"Is only full bloom and a full moon beautiful?
It is also touching to miss the moon towards the rainy sky and not know where the spring has gone.
There are many things to see, such as treetops that have not yet bloomed, and gardens that layed scattered with petals. …"
(Tsurezuregusa 137th Dan Kenko Hoshi)
Can we say that cherry blossoms are beautiful only when they are in full bloom, and moonlight is only beautiful when there is no cloudiness? The treetops before they bloom, the petals after they have fallen, and the moon covered with clouds are all the more elegant, aren't they?
This section of Tsurezuregusa gives us an awareness of the unfinished beauty.
What this unifinished means "falled petals" and "moon covered with clouds". We think that most people would feel a little unsatisfied with them. Normally, if it is cherry blossoms, "cherry blossoms in full bloom" is beautiful, if it is the moon, "full moon" is beautiful.
This essay throws a stone into such stereotypes.
Looking at the petals after they have fallen, imagine people enjoying cherry blossom viewing under the cherry blossoms in full bloom. Looking at the cloudy moon and imagine the light of the full moon illuminating all around you.
In this way, even if the scenery is incomplete, the traces and allusions can make the view more atmospheric in the mind. In this sense, there is a modest mind that appreciates the natural world as it is and a sensitivity to look closely at the object, which can be said that it is a Japanese aesthetic sense.
We are certainly fascinated by the perfection represented by cherry blossoms in full bloom and a full moon. However, the stereotype that only what is completed is beautiful may sometimes prevent us from noticing the beauty inherent in the incomplete. The treetops before blooming and the moon hidden in the clouds have a quaint beauty with allusions.
If you can notice these things, you may find your daily life a little richer.
